The Goat Man Myths, Debunked

Spooky stories are a fixture around Halloween. When you’re little, stories of urban myths are reason to forget the trick-or-treating and stay inside. But as one grows older, fear and danger start to hold a particular attraction, one that draws in adventurous teenagers and young adults to find out the truth — and more often than not prove their mettle to peers and members of the opposite sex.

If you’re looking for a good urban myth to tempt this Halloween, the Goat Man is one of the more well-known, revered, and feared urban myths in the United States today. He is most often associated with the state of Maryland but sightings have been reported in Texas and other deserted, rural back roads. He is described as a hybrid creature, half man half goat, in the vein of the satyrs of Greek mythology, or at his most dastardly the Devil himself. Some even claim him as a relative of Big Foot.

Regardless, the Goat Man allegedly preys on courting couples or attacks cars parked at the side of the road. Legend has it that the demon creature is responsible for the 1962 murders of 12 children and 2 adults killed on a hiking trip. There are claims that the Goat Man tore them apart limb from limb while screaming inhumanly, and that when authorities arrived, there was nothing left but a trail of blood leading to a cave. Other reports say that a Texas version of the Goat Man has been known to stand in roads and haul large rocks and other debris at passing cars.

As for the Goat Man’s origin, believers point to genetic experiments for the creature’s creation. These purported experiments were carried out by the Federal Government at Maryland’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

Of course, all sightings and reports have never been verified; that’s why this is an urban legend. But leaving things at that would be no fun, especially around Halloween. If you want to go look for yourself, and God help you if you do, the Goat Man mainly inhabits Upper Marlboro and Forestville in Prince George’s County, Maryland. More specifically, the Goat Man is believed to make his dwelling somewhere in the backyard of St. Mark the Evangelist School and/or at the nearby Glenn Dale Hospital, the former site of a tuberculosis sanatorium. Nearby residents over the years have reported being attacked by the creature, incurring property damage, and having family pets disappear or turn up maimed and killed.

The Goat Man legend also serves as the basis for other urban myths in different locales. The Bunnyman of Fairfax County, Virginia, is supposedly a man in a bunny costume who hacks victims to death with an axe near a particular bridge. The Skunk Ape reportedly has been sighted everywhere from North Carolina to Arkansas but mainly in Florida, and is a hairy ape-like creature that rolls itself in the carcasses of dead animals.

If you live on the east coast into the Midwest, there’s a variation of the Goat Man myth for you to explore. Good luck, and be very careful with what you find.

Editor’s Note: Ghost hunting is not a game and can be dangerous. Please exercise caution on all paranormal investigations.

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Jen Whitten is a paranormal researcher and writer, specializing in psychic development, Empaths, modern day vampirism and dealing with entities. She regularly discusses the paranormal realm, as well as the dark inner workings of the mind. [Read More …]